My Fabulous Spice Apple Cupcakes - Pazazz Apples

"How 'bout them apples?" "An apple a day...." "You are the apple of my eye." We are all familiar with these phrases, but is everyone familiar with the Pazazz Apple? This type of apple is part of the Honeybear Brands of apples and is often compared to a Jolly Rancher candy because of it's ratio of sweet to tart taste. Available during the months of November to August, this apple is at it's peak!! And you can pick up yours at your local Hy-Vee or Aldi stores.

When Honeybear reached out to me asking if I would be interested in partnering with them, I immediately said yes! I am a huge apple fan, whether it's eating them raw, cooked for my version of applesauce, or baked within my spice apple cupcake, apples are always in my fridge. I mean, apples have so many health benefits. They are their own prebiotic, high in fiber and can help aid in weight loss, an antioxidant, and can help protect your brain! And when they asked if I would like to share a recipe with all of you, I said yes again! I've been baking this spice apple cupcake for a while now and the family loves them! It's a great dessert, but it also makes a hearty sweet breakfast, if you ask my dad. However, that might not be the weight loss aid they were speaking of!

So let's talk about that cupcake recipe. I'm a girl who loves a shortcut in the kitchen, especially when baking, so I reach for my favorite box spice cake mix when making this cupcake. What I love about using a box cake mix, is that you can start with the basics and then amp up the flavor with add-ins, like cooked apples, to create this spice apple cupcake! You want to add the ingredients suggested on the box which we all have on hand. Bake them according the package, however, I know for my oven, 14 minutes is the perfect bake time. From there, it's all about apples! 

For the apple filling, I treat it much like an apple pie filling. Prep your apples by washing them and getting them ready to peel. I used an apple corer to slice and core, then used my favorite knife to peel. I used three apples in total.

Once all of the apples have been peeled, it's time to dice. I dice my apples into thin pieces because I don't want a big bite inside my cupcakes. They will cook down a little, but you still want a small bite inside.

Once they are all diced, it's time to cook! I placed all my apple pieces into a skillet and add all the yumminess of an apple pie filling. 

I add a tablespoon of unsalted softened butter to the apples.

To that, I add light brown sugar and apple pie spice.

This is a true scientific measurement here. I use roughly one to just a little less than two handfuls of brown sugar. It's a "too taste" kind of thing.

A little apple pie spice goes a long way, so just sprinkle in a little for flavor.

Make sure to steal a taste, and if you feel it's a little too tart, add a little granulated sugar to help sweeten the apples. Cook down to tender. Again, you don't want a crispy apple bite. Since your cupcakes are already baked, you are adding these cooked apples to the center, so you won't have a chance to cook them more.

Now that your apples are cooked, and cooled, it's time to fill the cupcake! I use an apple corer to remove the center of the cupcake, but you don't want to go all the through. Just core mid way through the cupcake, remove, and place aside in a small bowl. You will reuse them.

Fill each cupcake with the baked apples. You don't want to overfill, but you also don't want to under stuff. It's a thin line between both. After each one is filled, replace the centers with the pieces you removed.

 

Lastly, it's time to frost! I made my own, but you can most certainly use store bought. I made cream cheese frosting using an 8 ounce softened cream cheese, one stick of room temperature unsalted butter, and a teaspoon of vanilla. Add it all to the mixer and mix until creamy. Add four cups of confectioner sugar, one cup at time, mixing in between. If it feels too thick, add a tablespoon of water to get to the desired consistency to frost the cupcakes.

Then you frost! I add mine to a piping bag, with a large star tip, and pipe in a circular motion starting on the outside of the cupcake. I added clear and gold sprinkles to the top! 

  

I served these up for book club on a cupcake holder. So cute and so yummy!! Everyone loved them!

 So there you have it! That's my spice apple cupcake using Honeybear Pazazz apples! It's honestly the easiest cupcake recipe, you just have to put in a little love when making them! 

Head out today and grab your Pazazz Apples and get started on your own apple creation!!

XO,

Andrea

*This was a sponsored post, but all opinions and recipe were my own.

Easy Weeknight Dinner

Raise your hand if you find yourself asking every morning what to make for dinner? Keep your hand up if you've just come back from a week long vacation, where every meal was made for you, and you didn't miss making dinner every night? Well, I've raised my hand high and this is exactly where I found myself Monday night! I had created a weekly menu, made my grocery list, purchased all the groceries over the weekend, but when it came to making dinner Monday night, I just didn't really want to. And I think that's because I didn't really know what to have. Yes, I just said I created a weekly menu, but sometimes even then it doesn't sound good. So, I provided a couple of ideas to my husband, and he picked one. (He too didn't really care what we had either. No help!) 

When I'm shopping, I usually pick up a few things along the way that could be made into something down the road, and one of my go-to's these days is smoked sausage. I use them in foil packets on the grill or browned alone and then tossed in pasta. But on Monday, I decided to just wing it and make something of my own creation. I don't normally do that. Like ever! I am a recipe follower kind of cook. But, I had a few ingredients on hand, from one of the items on my menu for the week, and just started cooking!

Here's what you'll need! 

I started by heating some olive oil in a skillet and then added half of a diced white onion.

And then I decided it might need a little garlic, so I finely diced one glove. Add more if you're a fan!

I roughly chopped two large tomatoes and added them to the onion and garlic. If your tomatoes are as juicy as mine, that's going to create your sauce. You can always add a splash of chicken or vegetable stock.

I seasoned along the way, with the addition of each ingredient, with salt and pepper. All that Food Network watching pays off!

The main ingredient for this meal was chili lime smoked sausage. Man, was it full of flavor!! Not super spicy either. Just enough to add a punch of flavor.

Add the sausage to the tomato mixture. What's great about any smoked sausage is that it's already cooked! All your really doing is warming it through. I love having one less step!

While shopping from my food pantry, I found a can of Mexican corn. With the sausage having a chili lime base, I thought that the Mexican corn would be a great addition. It already has a spice base with jalapenos and red peppers. And again, you're just warming the corn through. 

While picking up the corn from the pantry, I found a box of corn bread mix and a box of rice. Dinner came together with all of these extras.

This meal came together in less than 30 minutes! I'm like Rachel Ray over here! Honestly, the things that took the longest were the corn bread muffins and rice, each taking 20 minutes. The main dish took 15 at the most! 

To serve it up, add a base of rice and then spoon over the sausage mixture. Place a couple of muffins on the plate and grab yourself your favorite beer! I just happened to have a Corona available and kept with my Mexican theme. 

And there you have it! A week night meal, that took roughly 30 minutes too make, with ingredients that you probably have on hand! (Seriously, I sound like any Food Network host!) It was enough for two night, I love leftovers, and Joel took it for lunch today! When you can get roughly three days out of one meal, and in essence five meals, that's a recipe to keep on hand! Even if you made it up!

XO,

Andrea